Strawberry Blondes
by The-Word-Writer
Summary: What if, Sarah never died? What if, instead of bleeding to death, she stayed alive until Joel and Tommy could patch her up? What if she lived with her dad the whole time? And what if she was in charge to keep a girl named Ellie alive? Slightly AU- well, a LOT AU-, in which Sarah- of course- never died, and is the same age as Ellie.
1. Waking Up

**Hey, guys!  
Okay, let me start off by first saying that this is going to be a little- well, actually, it's going to be a LOT AU, because, first off, Sarah doesn't die. Second, she's going to be the same age as Ellie. Third, something something something. Anyways, this is kind of an introduction from the first chapter of LOU, so you can skip if you want, but IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE GAME, DO NOT READ! AT ALL! SPOILERS DEAD AHEAD!  
…Anyway. Please review, and with that, here's the first chapter!**

"Tommy- Tommy, look, he's the contractor, okay? I can't lose this job- I, I understand… let's talk about this in the morning, okay?"

A pale light flickered on Sarah Miller's face, illuminating her soft features with a dull glow. Rubbing her eyes, the young blonde blinked blearily at the sight of her father putting down his phone on the nearby end table.

Sarah gave her dad a small smile.

"Hey."

"Scoot," He answered, and obliging, she moved herself over towards the arm of the couch, feeling her tired, heavy limbs ache with every move she made. She curled up in a little ball, watching her dad rub his eyes tiredly.

"Fun day at work, huh?" She chuckled. Her dad let out a heavy sigh and glared at her with dark, almond-shaped eyes.

"What're you still doing up?" He said, in his distinctly southern accent his daughter shared with him as well. She liked the little accent- it was kind of like a link, like a connection only a daughter and father could have. "It's late."

Sarah leaned forward, suddenly remembering- it was her dad's birthday. She was staying up late, waiting for him to come home from work to give him his birthday present. "Oh, crud, what time is it?" She leapt off of the couch and anxiously stared at the watch, sighing in relief as it read: 11:30.

"It's way past your bedtime." She heard her dad mutter as she flopped back down on the sofa.

"But it's still today," She grinned in a smug little voice, and leaned down under the coffee table to retrieve her father's present.

"Honey, please not now, I do _not _have the energy for this," He began. Ignoring his comment, Sarah handed him the small white box.

"Here." She said, barely able to contain her excitement. Her dad eyed her, rubbing his forehead before taking the box.

"What's this?"

"Your birthday?" Sarah smiled sheepishly.

Her dad was silent as he opened the box. Sarah watched him the whole while, letting a smile play on her lips as she watched him struggle for words.

"You… kept complaining about your broken watch." She said, breaking the silence. "So I figured, you know…" Her dad put on the watch, and Sarah looked at him through nervous gray eyes. "You like it?"  
"Honey, this is…" Her dad trailed off, and put the watch up to his ear.

"What?" Sarah asked, the smile creeping off her face as she did.

"It's nice, but I- I think it's stuck, it's not-"

"What? No, no, no, no-" She muttered, leaning over just to hear the watch ticking perfectly fine. She shoved her dad playfully away, grinning at his trick. "Oh, ha, ha."

"Where'd you get the money for this?"

"Drugs." Sarah offered. "I sell hardcore drugs."

"Good," Her dad smiled. "You can start helpin' out with the mortgage, then."

"Stsh," She snorted as her dad turned on the TV. "Yeah, you wish."

About ten minutes later, her dad was carrying her sleeping body upstairs to her bedroom, kissing her forehead before whispering, "G'night, baby girl,", and turning off the light.

Sarah allowed herself a tiny smile. It turned out to be a pretty okay day.

**So, how'd you like the first chapter? I'm going to update in, like, a second, but still. Hoped you liked it.**


	2. Apocolypses

**Hey, guys! And thanks, W.W., for giving me that AWESOME review! So, here's the next chapter- enjoy and review! (Oh, and by the way, Sarah is like eleven right now- in about 3 years, she's going to meet Ellie.  
**

The shrill ringing of a phone woke Sarah up, making her mumble with sleep as she reached for the phone on her white end table, yawning a sleepy "Hello?" into it.

"Sarah," Someone panted, and Sarah instantly recognized the voice to be that of her uncle's, Tommy. "Sarah, honey, I need you to get your daddy on the phone."

"Uncle Tommy, what time is it?" The blonde mumbled sleepily.

"I need to talk with your daddy, _now." _Uncle Tommy replied sharply. "There's some-"

The line clicked dead.

"Uncle Tommy?" Sarah asked, now wide-awake. "Hello?"

Sarah dropped the phone back on the table, breathing heavily as she slipped off the bed.

"What was that all about?" She mumbled to herself, staring at her reflection in the mirror. A pair of wide, trusting gray eyes met hers, and sighing, Sarah ran a hand through her cropped blonde hair, watching her slightly thin, chapped lips clamp on itself. She was a pretty, if not beautiful, girl- she had short, neck-length blonde hair and slightly small gray eyes, a tiny nose, and sunburnt, tanned skin from spending hours outside playing soccer for her all-girls' soccer team. She was small for her age, and skinnier, too.

Ripping her eyes away from her reflection, she grabbed her stuffed teddy bear, Mr. Bear (pretty original name, huh?) from her bed and stuffed him under her arm. She knew it was stupid, but she always felt safer when he was around. He was a gift from her late mother for Sarah's 2nd birthday.

"C'mon, Mr. Bear, let's go find Daddy," She mumbled, and stumbled sleepily out of her room. "Daddy?" She called out, her voice slightly echoing in the long, dark hallway. Yawning, she pushed open the door to her dad's room, only to be greeted by the low, anxious voice of a news lady on her father's TV.

"We've received reports that victims afflicted with the infection show signs of increased aggression and-"

"That's nearby," Sarah muttered to herself, staring at the familiar skyscrapers behind the lady.

"We need to move everybody out of here, now," A voice in the background yelled. "There's a gas leak."

Sarah's eyes fixed onto the fire behind the lady. There were red, brilliant flames flickering out in the background, and as if in a trance she walked dazedly towards the TV, pressing her hand on the screen.

"There seems to be some commotion from behind," the lady said, as if Sarah hadn't already seen that.

"Get out of here!" The background voice yelled. "Lady, get the hell outta here right-"

Fire exploded literally everywhere, and the screen turned black.

"Uh… what was that?" Sarah gasped, turning her head just to see an explosion right outside the window.

"Dad?!" She shouted out, her pulse quickening. She ran out of the room, and stumbled blindly down the staircase. Outside the window, five police cars drove by. She hugged her arms to her chest, and wandered off into the kitchen.

On the granite counter, Sarah's dad's phone was buzzing. Hurriedly, she picked it up to see her dad missed 8 calls, and-

"Where the hell are you? CALL ME." She read the text message aloud, eyes widening as she read the next message. "On my way."

She dropped the phone on the counter and walked off into her dad's study, hoping he'd be in there- with no luck, of course. But, right as she was about to leave, her dad walked in, his face scratched with oozy cuts and bruises.

"There you are," Sarah breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sarah!" Her dad exclaimed, examining her face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Sarah mumbled, watching her dad rummaging for something in his desk's drawers- _a gun?, _Sarah thought nervously.

"Has anyone come in here?" Her dad called over his shoulder.

"No," Sarah replied nervously. "Who'd come in here?"

"Don't go near the doors," her dad ordered, "just- stand back there…"  
"Dad," Sarah said in a wavering voice, "you're kinda freaking me out… what's going on?"  
"It's the Coopers," her dad said in a breathless voice, "somethin' ain't right with 'em, I think they're sick."

"What kinda sick?" Sarah asked anxiously. A loud groan answered her, and she gasped, jumping away from the glass sliding doors.

"Jesus!" Her dad yelled.

"Dad?" Sarah yelled, her throat lumping up as her dad came near her, guarding her with his body.

"Honey, come here, come here…" He mumbled, pulling her closer to his back.

A figure suddenly burst against the glass.

"Jimmy!" Sarah's dad yelled. "Jimmy, just stay back…"

The figure burst through the glass, turning his disfigured head towards Sarah and her dad.

"Oh my god!" Sarah screamed, fear gripping her heart as hard as its cold little fingers could.

"Jimmy, I am warning you-" Her dad shouted, but the figure- Jimmy- lunged at them, and Sarah's father pulled the trigger on his gun.

"DON'T!" Sarah shouted, but it was too late- Jimmy was lying dead on the floor.

"Go." Her dad said in a rushed whisper, pulling her out of the study. "Go."  
"You shot him," Sarah gasped.

Her dad turned to face her, gripping her shoulders with rough, calloused hands. "Sarah." He began in a low voice. "I saw him this mornin'- listen, there's somethin' bad going on. We have to get out of here- do you understand me?"

Something in his voice told Sarah she wasn't coming back. She clutched at Mr. Bear, and nodded, trying to put on a brave face.

"Yeah." She lied.

"C'mon," He said, grabbing her hand and leading her out of the house. Uncle Tommy's car was parked right outside.

"Where the hell you've been?" Tommy yelled, standing right outside of the truck. Sarah looked over his familiar brown mop of curls to his face, glad that he was coming along with her and her dad. "You have any idea what's been goin' on out there?"

"I got some notion," Her dad said in a rushed whisper.

"Holy shit- you've got blood all over you." Tommy said. Sarah's dad ignored him, strapping her in the back seat and looking at her with worried brown eyes.

"Here, baby. It's gonna be all okay."

He shut the door, and then reappeared in Sarah's vision riding shotgun in the truck.

"It ain't mine," He said to Tommy as they pulled out of the driveway. "C'mon- let's just get outta here."  
"They're saying half of the people in the city lost their minds," Tommy told his brother in a shaky voice.

"Can we just _please _go?" Sarah's dad mumbled.

"Some sort of parasite or somethin'." Tommy said.

"You gonna tell me what happened?" Sarah's father asked tensely.

"Later." Tommy mumbled. Sarah listened to the crunch of gravel under the tires- it always calmed her down, even in the midst of an apocalypse. "Hey, Sarah." Tommy suddenly said, in a much brighter tone. "How you holdin' up, honey?"

"I'm fine." Sarah muttered. It seemed like her entire responses were composed of lies. "Can we hear what's on the radio?"  
"Sure thing," Tommy said, and muttered angrily when nothing came.

"No cellphone, no radio- yeah, we're doin' great." Sarah's father muttered darkly. They road on in silence, watching the houses roll by. It was too quiet- much too quiet.

"Minute ago, newsman wouldn't shut up." Tommy said, breaking the silence.

"They say where to go?" Sarah's dad asked.

"He said, ah- Army's putting road blocks up on the highway. No gettin' into Travis County."  
"That means we need to get the hell out- take 71."

A police car zipped by. Sarah tugged on the collar of her PJs, shivering slightly.

"Did they say how many are dead?" She said in a shushed voice.

"Probably a lot." Tom answered. "Found this one family all mangled up inside of their house-"  
"Tommy." Sarah's dad said sharply, watching Sarah wince.

"Sorry." Tommy said quietly.

They came across a Honda bumped up against a streetlight.

"Jesus!" Sarah's dad exclaimed. "How the hell did this happen?"

"They got no clue. But we ain't the only town. At first they were saying it was just the South. Now they're goin' on about the East Coast, the West Coast…" Tommy trailed off as they drove past a house that was literally burning to the ground.

"Holy hell." Tommy whispered.

"That's Louis's farm," Sarah's dad said in response, his voice shaky. "I hope that son of a bitch made it out."

Sarah pressed a hand to the window, watching as the house crumbled down in flames. It was perhaps the loneliest thing she ever saw- just sitting there, watching somebody's life burn and not being able to help.

"I'm sure he did." Tommy said uncertainly.

Sarah voiced a question that had been bothering her ever since she saw the news lady burn on the TV.

"Are we sick?"

"No, no, of course not," Her dad said reassuringly, but Sarah wasn't too convinced.

"How do you know?"

"They say it's just, ah, people in the city." Her dad said. "We're good."  
"Didn't Jimmy work in the city?" Sarah asked quietly.

"That's right, he did." After a pause, he added, "We're fine. Trust me."

"Alright." Sarah mumbled. She didn't think she ever felt so small, curling up in her too-large PJs and hugging Mr. Bear to her chest. The truck suddenly rolled forward, towards a couple and their small child. They seemed to be calling for them to stop.

"Let's see what they need," Tommy began, but Sarah's dad protested.

"What the hell do you think you're doin'? Keep drivin'." He ordered.

"They got a kid, Joel!" Tommy exclaimed.

"So do we." Sarah's dad said in a rough, sharp voice. Sarah spoke up.

"But we have room!" She said, gasping as they rolled past the family. The little girl in her mother's arms was even younger than she was.

"Hey, stop!" The father yelled. But Tommy rolled past, muttering under his breath as he did. Sarah sat there, for a moment, in the horrible silence that followed the man's scream. But, then-

"You ain't seen what I seen." Sarah's father said in a low voice. "Someone else'll come along." He added that part, as if to himself.

"We shoulda helped 'em." Sarah whispered.

A skyscraper suddenly came into view. Sarah watched as about a dozen police cars drove by the truck. As they reached the freeway, a huge line of cars awaited the truck, and both Tommy and Sarah's father groaned.

"Oh, this is bad," Sarah's father muttered.

"Everyone and their mother had the same damn idea." Tommy agreed roughly.

"Well, we could just backtrack and-"

But Sarah's dad was interrupted as a man nearby got up from his front seat in his Ford.

"Hey, what the fuck, man?" The man yelled. "Let's go-" 

And then, a zombie attacked him.

Sarah sat there, in horrified shock, as the zombie fed on the man, spilling out his guts and blood, watching the life drain out of his eyes-

"Holy shit!" Tommy exclaimed as another figure- a zombie- came barreling onto the dead man.

"Turn us around, Tommy!" Sarah's father ordered.

"Oh my god," Sarah cried.

"Tommy!" Her dad yelled. "Go!" 

"Holy shit!" Tommy shouted again, and pulled the car away from the dead man's Ford. A zombie smashed his face against the side window, and Sarah barely stifled a scream as the truck shot as fast as possible out of the freeway.

"What the _FUCK _just happened- did you see that?" Tommy demanded.

"Yes, I saw that!"

"Turn here, turn here!" Sarah's dad shouted, and they stopped into a street littered with people screaming for their lives, running past the car in a frenzied hurry.

"What the hell're they runnin' from?" Tommy wondered aloud.

"Get us outta here." Sarah's dad said roughly.

"I'm tryin'."

"Oh, god." Zombies were now littering the street, running after the people.

"We can't stop here."

"I can't fucking drive through 'em!"  
"THEN BACK UP!"  
"They're behind me too!"

Sarah's dad shouted hoarsely as the people emptied the streets, leaving the zombies in their wake.

"Go, go, go!" Her dad shouted, and Tommy drove through a large alleyway, and away from the zombies.

"LOOK OUT!" Sarah suddenly shouted as a white truck collided into the car's side.

Glass shattered onto Sarah, and then the whole world went black.


	3. Ittsy-Bittsy Bullet Wounds

**Hey, guys! Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy!  
…**

Sarah woke up to the sound of screaming, and a sharp, aching pain in her leg.

Groggily, the blonde got up and took in her surroundings with bleary gray eyes. Cracked glass was surrounding her, a sea of broken car windows and blood. Her father was clearly knocked out, and anxiously she shook him.

"Daddy?" When he didn't answer, she shook him again. "Hey. Hey!"  
"What?" He mumbled, lazily yawning into her face, sending a blast of tobacco into her nostrils. His eyes latched onto a nearby figure- a zombie- chewing on the internal organs of a young woman near a flipped Toyota nearby.

"Get back, baby," He suddenly whispered, hurriedly, urgently. "Get back."

Stomping hard, he kicked the glass of a car window and, as quickly as possible, crawled out of it and onto the cracked pavement below. Panting, he got up and leaned against the car, when a figure suddenly barreled against his body. His eyes widened as he took in the zombie, and pushed him away, barely stifling a yell.

Instantly, a fist appeared out of nowhere, and connected with the zombie's head. Joel Miller latched eyes with his brother, saying a silent _thank-you _when an urgent, slightly cracked voice broke him out of his gaze.

"Dad?" Sarah asked, and instantly Joel crouched down, helping his daughter out of the flipped-over truck.

"I'm here baby, I'm here. Just gimme your hand." He said, as soothingly as possible. Obliging, Sarah offered him a small, tanned hand and Joel pulled his daughter out of the truck. Instantly, she yet out a yelp as she stood on her feet, falling onto his chest instead.

"What is it?" Joel asked tensely.

"My leg hurts," She gasped out, over the sounds of anguished screams.

"How bad?"

"Pretty bad."  
"We're gonna need to run," Tommy yelled out, surveying the situation with wild eyes.

"Oh my god." Joel uttered, watching a zombie feast on a little boy's body. He could've been only about five years old. Silently, he handed his brother the gun.

"You keep us safe." He said, glaring into his brother's face, and then pulled up his daughter with both arms. Instantly, he was glad of how small and skinny she was, for the first time in his life. She was heavy, of course, but luckily not as heavy as an average eleven-year-old would've been.

"Now hold on tight." He warned the girl.

"Okay!"

Joel took off running, his brother and countless others at his side. Nearby, streetlights flickered and screams filled the thick, heavy night air. A loud, angry moan yelled out behind Joel, a terrified scream following.

"Daddy, I'm scared," Sarah gasped.

"Just keep your eyes closed, honey!" Joel yelled over the horrified shouts. He ran as fast as he could, sweat beading on his forehead. He had to keep Sarah safe- he had to, he had to, he had to-

"Oh my god!" Sarah sobbed into his shoulder as she watched a woman shielding her little baby get feasted on by a rotting corpse. Nearby, a building exploded in flames, and a streetlight fell down onto the road.

"Keep running!" Tommy yelled, and they ducked into another street, just as another building burst into flames. People screeched as zombies attacked their friends, family, loved ones- it was pure havoc, pure chaos, the scariest thing Joel had ever laid eyes on.

"These people are on fire." Sarah mumbled shakily.

"Don't look, Sarah," Joel said roughly as they passed the burning building, the heat scorching his skin.

"Okay."  
The screams of the burning filled their ears, though, and Joel quickly shouted, "Just keep lookin' at me, baby!"

They ran onto another street, Sarah moaning into her father's shoulder as the anguished, pain-filled cries of the dying exploded into their eardrums. Nearby, a silver Mercedes crashed into a small VW Beatle.

"We're going to get out of this," Joel promised as he darted off near the movie theater. "I promise."

A car on fire rolled by, and instantly exploded in a fiery, horrific, spectacular ball of flames.

"Get back!" Tommy yelled, watching the townspeople scream in terror. "There's too many of them!"

He turned to a dark, frightening alleyway hiding behind two small houses.

"This way," He yelled, taking off and opening the fence guarding the alleyway. "C'mon!"

Joel had barely bounded two feet before a zombie lunged at him. Tommy instantly pulled the trigger on his gun, and the zombie fell down onto the pavement with a sickening crash.

"He's dead!" Sarah wailed, not able to take her eyes off the corpse.

"We're almost there," Joel promised, running off into the dark. "We're almost there, baby."  
They passed a chain-link fence, in which zombies were trying to cut their sharp, brown teeth through the metal links.

"They're getting through the fence!" Tommy shouted, as if they hadn't saw that themselves.

"Keep going! Find a way outta here!" Joel yelled, running into an outside café.

"C'mon!" Tommy cried, as zombies were already chasing the three out of the alleyway and into a small building. Tommy pushed his weight against the door.

"Get to the highway!" He yelled, his forehead sweating bullets.

"What?" Joel whispered.

"GO! You've got Sarah- I can outrun 'em!" Tommy promised. The flailing hands of the dead were now beginning to push their way through the door.

"Uncle Tommy?!" Sarah yelled.

"I'll meet you there," Joel said fiercely, ignoring his daughter.

"Hurry!" Tommy yelled in response.

Joel pushed through the back door, and back into the thickening early morning air.

"Daddy, we can't leave 'im!" Sarah protested in a cracking voice, as they bounded across the parking lot, passing a young man flailing as a zombie feasted on his flesh.

"He's gonna be fine!" Joel reassured her, jumping into a dusty, abandoned road hiding behind a small red fence.

"They're gettin' closer," Joel whispered to himself.

"Dad?!" Sarah shouted, alarmed.

Right behind them, a zombie moaned with hunger and pain. Joel darted up a small hill, trying to get the zombie off his tail- no, _zombies, _off his tail.

Just as they were about to be attacked, a bunch of gunshots echoed in front of them, and the zombies flailed to the ground, as dead as can be.

Joel looked up and into the eyes of a young soldier, about ten feet away from the two.

"Hey!" Joel called hoarsely, approaching the man. "We need help-"

"Stop!" The soldier yelled, pointing the gun at his chest. Joel staggered back, heart beating fast under his chest.

"Please," He begged, "it's my daughter- I think her leg's broken-"  
"Stop right there!" The man boomed, pointing the gun at Sarah's head now.

"Okay." Joel responded slowly. "We're not sick."  
"Got a couple of civilians out in the outer perimeter." The soldier muttered into his two-way radio. "Please advise."

Sarah tightened her grip on her father's neck.

"Daddy," she whispered in a hoarse voice, "what about Uncle Tommy?"  
"We're gonna get you to safety and go back to him." Joel said. "Okay?"

"Sir," the soldier protested, "there's a little girl."  
They waited in anxious silence, watching the soldier all the while.

"But…" the soldier trailed off. "Yes sir." He raised his gun.

"Listen, buddy, we've just been through hell. Okay, we just need-" Joel broke off as the man pulled the trigger. "Oh, shit."

He stumbled around just as the soldier pulled the trigger. He rolled down the hill, clutching his sore sides. The soldier stood over him.

"Please, don't-" Joel whispered. And he didn't, because Tommy shot him. Joel stared at his brother in a furious sort of pride- until, of course, he heard his daughter's anguished moans.

"Oh, no." He whispered, and stumbled to her side.

She was clutching her stomach, sobbing a little.

"Sarah!" He cried, not bothering to disguise his panic. Lifting her bloodied hands, he breathed a huge, overwhelming sigh of relief, as he saw the bullet had not hit her heart- it had barely skipped the top of her stomach. She was going to be fine.

"You're going to be okay, baby." He reassured her. "Okay?"

"It hurts!" She wailed, her tanned face scrunching up in pain.

"Okay?" Her father pressed.

"…Okay."

**So, how was the chapter? Please review, and with that-**

**Love, hugs, and all that jazz,**

**The-Word-Writer**


	4. Author's REALLY Short Note

**Hey, guys! Sorry for the delay of the 4th chapter, my idiot of a computer accidentally deleted it, so, yeah, I'm pretty pissed off about that. I'll try to update as soon as I can. **

**Love, hugs, and all that jazz, **

**The-Word-Writer**

**(P.S., I'm SUPER happy that you like it! And, by the way, the reason I called the infected "zombies" is because it's from Sarah's POV- mostly- and she doesn't really know what the infected are. Her brain can only process the words "brain-sucking monsters" and "walking corpses", so, yeah.)**


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